Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Charles E. Heerman / Employers want to hire students with the appropriate skill set for the job. These skills include communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills (Billing, 2003; Shivpuri & Kim, 2004). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether students perceive themselves to be transferring employability skills learned in the Fort Hays State University (FHSU) Leadership Studies Certificate Program to the workplace. The Leadership Studies Certificate Program consists of three academic leadership courses; Introduction to Leadership to Leadership Concepts, Introduction to Leadership Behaviors, and Fieldwork in Leadership Studies. Three groups were created for the purpose of the study. Group one served as a control group and consisted of participants who had not taken a leadership course at FHSU. Group two consisted of a sample of students who had completed one or two courses out of the Leadership Studies Certificate Program. Participants who had completed the entire Leadership Studies Certificate made up group three. The study sought to evaluate the participants’ perceptions with regard to the level of importance of identified employability skills, as well as their level of competence in performing each of the employability skills. The study also sought the supervisors’ perceptions of the study participants in each of the three groups. Employability skills studied were problem-solving skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, change and innovation behaviors, ability to manage self, and being civic-minded. Study participants and their supervisors both perceived the ability to manage self as the most important skill in the workplace. Findings showed no differences between participant groups with respect to the perceived importance and competence levels on each of the six employability skill constructs. Supervisors of Leadership Studies Certificate recipients deemed communication skills as more important to their employee’s job than supervisors who employed students who had never taken an FHSU leadership course. No differences were found between supervisor groups with respect to perceived importance and competence on the remainder of the employability skills. Further research should be conducted on the Leadership Studies Certificate Program to understand its impact on students’ development of employability skills. Upon conclusion of this analysis, possible curriculum modifications should be considered.

The primary objective of this study was to explore the relationship between personality and employability using a sample of 100 employees at a meat producing company in South Africa. A secondary objective was to determine if personality could be used to predict employability, and whether individuals from different demographic groups differed regarding their employability. The instruments used were the sixteen personality factor inventory (16PF) and the Van Der Heidje employability measure. The research findings indicated that the personality factors of submissiveness and seriousness correlated to the employability dimensions of anticipation/ optimization and occupational expertise respectively. Openness and corporate sense were also correlated, with anxiety in particular correlating with the overall employability measure. Differences between the race groups and employability were also noted. Particular interventions aimed at improving individual career decision making and employability practices within the organisation concluded the study. / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based systems designed to store, organize, analyse and present spatial data. They can be used to help understand and answer a wide variety of problems in fields such as environmental management, resource planning and retail location and development. This thesis aims to explore the GIS education provided within university Geography departments (or units) in both the UK and Turkey. The main topics for investigation are the nature and scale of the GIS provision, the principal characteristic of the teaching, learning and assessment processes and also graduate employability – how far the courses and their students satisfied employer needs. Although there is a substantial literature on GIS education, this thesis is different for two reasons. First, because it takes a more holistic approach to examining many aspects of GIS education within a number of case study departments. Second, because it covers two different countries, which can then be compared. With reference to the research methods, this PhD examined ten case study departments, six from the UK and four from Turkey. The data collected were derived from a combination of student questionnaires, staff interviews, teaching observations and reading course documents. Both qualitative and quantitative were used to examine the data. In the UK the main types of provision were found to be some 90 GIS named modules within Geography undergraduate programmes, 22 GIS Masters degrees and 7 UG GIS programmes. In Turkey, where engineering is the leading GIS discipline, there were 61 modules in undergraduate Geography, two Geography-based Masters programmes and no GIS undergraduate degrees. In the UK the great majority of GIS II provision in Geography degrees takes the form of modules which are optional, with the result that most Geographers obtain only a very limited understanding of GIS and its applications. By contrast, in Turkey, the GIS modules are typically compulsory and the subject therefore occupies a more central and prominent position in the curriculum. In both countries, more than 70 percent of students said they were satisfied with their GIS teaching (with no statistically difference in satisfaction levels related to the gender or year of study). Although this is a positive finding, there were some weakness and disappointments. With respect to curriculum design and delivery, insufficient attention was given to use of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and in both countries students complained about too much theory and about teaching which was too heavily based on lectures and not sufficiently active and student centred (especially in Turkey). GIS staff rarely took part in teaching related CPD and GIS was little used outside the formally designated modules. GIS employer opinions were varied on the quality of graduates but common criticisms were that they lacked the business awareness and in Turkey had often poor standards of English. The links between academia and the GIS profession were patchy. The thesis ends with over 20 recommendations, the most important of which is for Geography as a discipline to give more priority to GIS. Particularly in the UK (though less so in Turkey), many Geographers graduate with little knowledge or experience of GIS. In the age of the information economy, this is a significant missed opportunity.

This study aims at understanding how individuals in Shanghai engage in labour market competition and lifelong learning in a newly marketised and competitive context. It probes the individuals’ participation in ‘the Training Programme for Talents in Shortage’ (STTP), their perceptions of the value of lifelong learning and their experience in competing for employment. It takes the position that rather than focusing only on policy-makers’ views, an understanding of people’s perceptions and participation in this programme can provide a proper basis for the formulation and the evaluation of the policy on a learning society (Gerard and Rees, 2002). STTP is a localized education and training programme in the post-compulsory sector, providing qualifications with largely local value. It has been developed and implemented by the Shanghai Municipal Government since 1993 as a means to enhance the city’s stock of human capital and to promote the development of a ‘learning society’. On the one hand, STTP is inspired and designed by straightforward human capital development concerns and has been implemented through a decentralized, semimarketised approach, to maintain the momentum of the city’s development by targeting key skills shortages. On the other hand, significant socio-economic changes, such as the emergence of a labour market, lead individuals to take on full personal responsibility for their own social position and to compete against each other. People seek to obtain all sorts of advantages to manage and construct their employability; this study investigates the role of STTP and its qualifications in building individuals’ portfolio of skills, qualifications and other aspects of their individual human capital. The thesis draws on two sets of literature: that on lifelong learning and employability, and that on sociological theories of engagement with and participation in lifelong learning, notably rational choice theory and theories of positional competition. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data gathering and analysis were applied. A questionnaire was administrated to 279 course participants; and interviews were conducted with 11 course participants, 4 non-participants and 4 course deliverers and policy-makers. Both instruments explored perceptions and experiences of the labour market, reasons for participating (or not) in STTP, their views on lifelong learning and the relationship between STTP, lifelong learning and the labour market. The finding suggests that a full understanding of individuals’ work and learning involves an analysis of a complex of relational interdependence between socially and culturally derived factors and personally subjective views of whom they are. In addition, the finding suggests that certain aspects of STTP, coupled with existing perceptions of formal education in Shanghai on the one hand and various interpretations of the needs of the labour market on the other, may be acting to challenge the original intentions of the programme, especially in terms of building a learning society.

Employability is highly topical in UK Higher Education. There is related literature debating the purpose of higher education, learning and skills, contextual social and economic issues and policy matters for the sector as a whole, but no published work on the ways in which universities organise themselves to deal with this particular issue. This study examines the organisational responses of universities to the issue of graduate employability at this pivotal time for English higher education, when the environment is linking employability to institutional success to an unprecedented degree. The study considers key contextual factors including the debate around the relationship between “the knowledge economy” and the demand for graduates, the ways in which success in employability is understood and measured, the impact of recession and the tension between student consumerism and partnership in an environment in which “consumer information” is linked directly by government to notions of return on personal investment and value for money as tuition fees increase. The key questions addressed are: how is the employability offer conceptualised, constructed, managed and measured and what choices about organisational configuration and capability are being made and acted upon? The study required detailed analysis of the relationships between institutional mission and top-level goals, declared strategy for delivery and delivery structures and the roles of key individuals and teams and so, this enquiry is based upon in-depth case studies of five universities, using data on graduate destinations, published statements and strategies and interviews with relevant post holders (with a particular focus on the role of the head of the professional career service). The case studies and analysis relate the organisational responses to the underlying driver of positional competition. The study uses the role and position of careers services as the starting point for attempting to understand the organisational responses in each case.

No description available.

This investigation was concerned with assessing the knowledge acquired in an employability skills training program. The method for determination of the knowledge was presented as subjects' responses to the Employability Inventory (EI). As an antecedent to this, the EI was subjected to validation procedures. The methods used to validate the EI were the point-biserial correlation coefficient and rating devices.

Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 7, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

The primary objective of this study was to explore the relationship between personality and employability using a sample of 100 employees at a meat producing company in South Africa. A secondary objective was to determine if personality could be used to predict employability, and whether individuals from different demographic groups differed regarding their employability. The instruments used were the sixteen personality factor inventory (16PF) and the Van Der Heidje employability measure. The research findings indicated that the personality factors of submissiveness and seriousness correlated to the employability dimensions of anticipation/ optimization and occupational expertise respectively. Openness and corporate sense were also correlated, with anxiety in particular correlating with the overall employability measure. Differences between the race groups and employability were also noted. Particular interventions aimed at improving individual career decision making and employability practices within the organisation concluded the study. / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Bakgrund: Teorier kring den gränslösa karriären har vuxit fram för att förklara de karriärer som är icke-linjära samt ej utspelar sig inom en och samma organisation genom hela karriären. Den stora skillnaden i den nya teorin är att individen har tagit över ansvaret för sin karriärutveckling från organisationen. Inom dessa teorier finns begreppet anställningsbarhet som beskriver den potentiella förmåga eller möjlighet en individ har att ta en ny riktning i karriären. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka hur individer som innehar en gränslös karriär upplever anställningsbarheten. Då majoriteten av den forskning som har gjorts inom fältet är av en organisatorisk utgångspunkt anser vi att det är motiverat att genomföra studien ur ett individperspektiv för att på så sätt täcka de kunskapsluckor som återfinns inom fältet. Metod: I studien använde vi oss av en kvalitativ metod, via intervjuer där respondenternas subjektiva upplevelse stod i centrum. Totalt genomfördes fyra intervjuer i studien med individer med karriärer som faller under definitionen för en gränslös karriär med hjälp av ett bekvämlighetsurval. Slutsats: Respondenterna ser enbart två av dimensionerna inom anställningsbarhet som delaktiga i deras egen anställningsbarhet, humankapital samt karriärsidentitet. Vidare kan förmågan att få en potentiell anställning delas upp i två processer: möjlighetsrealiserande & möjlighetsskapande. De dimensionerna som de tolkar som anställningsbarhet faller under båda processerna, medan det sociala kapitalet endast ses som en möjlighetsskapande process. Vi har även funnit att begreppet anställningsbarhet är bristfälligt i förhållande till teorin. Begreppet bör tydligare inkludera dels den möjlighetsskapande processen och dels förmågan att bibehålla en nuvarande anställning. / Background: Theories regarding the boundaryless career emerged to explain career paths that are not linear or confined to a single organisation throughout an individual’s career. The big difference within this new theory is that the individual takes responsibility for their career development instead of the organisation. The central term within these theories is employability, which describes the potential ability an individual has to change their career path. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate how the individuals within a boundaryless career perceive their employability. Since most of the research within this area is conducted from an organisational point of view, there is a lack of research from an individual’s perspective and our aim is to increase understanding in this area. Method: We used a qualitative research approach in the study to capture the respondent’s subjective opinions about employability through the use of interviews. In total four interviews were conducted with individuals who fall within the definition of a boundaryless career, by use of a convenience sample. Conclusion: The respondent’s view two dimensions that affect employability and these are career identity and human capital. The ability to secure employment can be divided into two processes; opportunity creation and opportunity realisation. Respondent’s regard human capital and career identity as important for both opportunity and realisation processes, but view social capital as only affecting opportunity creation with no effect on realisation. We have concluded that the term employability has shortcomings compared to its theoretical basis. The term should include the process of opportunity creation as well as the ability to keep your current employment status.